Living the Allergen Life

I get asked all the time: “What CAN you eat?”

Somedays it’s a lot of things I can eat… and somedays the answer is “Air and water.” Living life where food makes your body sick is not always glamourous. And I have definitely been the bitter, jaded person that looked at food as if it were my enemy. Even now. But this is a new year and a new chance to get my body back to healthy.

I closed out 2018 running test after test. Doctors appointment after doctors appointment. Since 2019 started I have whittled out a few appointments, canceled a few tests. While I want to know what is going on with me… I really don’t enjoy the guinea pig aspect of this “lets test for everything” approach. And being that I’m not a medical newbie I humored my doctor on a couple of things… mostly because I felt that there were justified. Then – I’m not going to lie – when the bills started to add up I just frankly couldn’t keep testing to rule out things.

Not only was it getting too expensive… It was also just draining me mentally. To literally spend every week in the doctors office, lab, out patient clinics, or rehab (PT). But I successfully graduated from physical therapy (PT) this week(!!) and started to refocus what I was spending my energy on.

I’m happy to say that I feel more in charge of my life than I have these last few months. While I know I have a loonnnng way to go, I’m at least making decisions, progress, and changes to my life that feel RIGHT.

My next step is an upper/lower endoscope. Being in my field I know exactly what that entails. Yuck. But hopefully these biopsies will bring me closer to understanding what foods I need to stay away from, what macro and micronutrients my body is missing, and where I go from here.

After my scope I plan to restart the AIP diet. While I stick to a large majority of it… I haven’t given up eggs, cashews, sugar, or caffeine. I’m not sure I can truly give up caffeine…. Coffee is my soulmate. But I tried giving up nightshades, and didn’t feel much of a difference. Although I also don’t remember how much time lapsed between infrequent ingestions to call it a full cleanse.

Check out my next post to learn more about my AIP journey! My cookbooks come in this week. Can’t wait to start reviewing my recipe options. It’s time to get the inflammation out of my body and my body back in shape. Wish me luck!

If you’re just starting out your allergen free journey… or further along than me feel free to reach out! We all need people in our lives to help us through.